Garza case dismissed, all charges dropped by request of victim

Jonathan Williams, Editor-in-Chief

All charges in the case against past Linfield student Diego Garza who was charged with rape last September have been dropped per the request of the victim, according to recent court documents.

On October 19, Yamhill County Judge Cynthia Easterday heard the motion to dismiss all charges Garza was charged with, per the request of the victim presented by Yamhill County Deputy District Attorney Amanda Dresen.

Yamhill County Judge John L. Collins signed the judgement of dismissal for Garza on Oct. 19, clearing him of all six charges.

Garza faced one charge of rape in the first degree, two counts of sodomy in the first degree, one count of sexual abuse in the first degree and two counts of unlawful sexual penetration in the first degree.

Garza’s lawyers, Andrew D. Coit and Richard D. Cohen of the law firm of Cohen and Coit, P.C., were not available for immediate comment.

Prior to the dismissal of Garza’s charges, the court had received medical records between Aug. 19 and Sept. 29 from Linfield College, McMinnville Physical Therapy, Willamette Valley Medical Center, Child & Adolescent Resource Center and The Oregon Clinic – Women’s Health Today related to the victim that were reviewed by the court in private.